I Need You (a skyward fic)
by Joy Booth
Summary: Set after "The Hub" Skye can't sleep, so she goes to debrief Ward. What else is a junior officer to do?


It was three in the morning and Skye couldn't sleep. Not an unusual thing really, especially with all the excitement her new life featured. She had tried watching an old movie, but she had been too restless. Then, she went down to the airlock, to work the bag for a little while. She was on her way to the kitchen for a snack, when she passed Ward's bunk.

She couldn't help but look in on him. She had been so worried, when she found out about their mission. She hated how helpless she had been trapped on level 0, less than 0 really, level traitor. She knew that Ward was finally starting to ease up, but she still felt tension when she entered a room.

She just needed him to understand. She needed to know who she was, but she also need to protect her team.

"I can feel your eyes," Ward mumbled. Skye moved into the room, trying to figure out if Ward was awake or just talking in his sleep.

"Skye, I can feel you watching me," he said more clearly, eyes still closed.

He couldn't possibly know it was her. There was no way.

"What do you need, Skye, I would like to at least get a few hours of sleep?" he asked, finally opening his eyes and putting to rest the notion that he might be asleep.

"I was just checking on you," she answered vaguely, pulling the screen closed behind her to keep from waking the others.

"You were checking on me?" he returned skeptically.

"Umm, yeah, I was walking by and..." she stopped mid-sentence, unable to say what exactly led her to be in his bunk at 3:30 in the morning.

"and you thought you would /check/ on me?" he continued to question her motives.

"Yeah, man, I was worried, alright, don't read anything into it. I was walking by and I felt the need to check on you. Even robots need a mechanic to check their oil levels," she huffed out, loosing steam with every word.

He sat up, swinging his legs over that edge of the bed. "So, you're here to check my oil?"

"Yeah, you had a pretty crazy couple days, and as you J.O. I thought that I would, you know, debrief you."

"J.O.?" he asked.

"Junior officer," she explained.

"I've already been debriefed."

"Of course you have," she made a move to leave, but Ward grabbed her wrist pulling her toward him.

"Skye, why are you here?"

"I needed to know you were okay," she finally answered, eyes trained on her feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked lifting her chin gently, so that her eyes met his.

"Uh, yeah I'm fine," she joked, rolling her eyes to avoid his intense gaze.

"You don't seem fine."

"I'm just having a little trouble settling down," she said. She was trying to find a way to get out of there without completely embarrassing herself, but Ward was still holding her wrist with one hand and her face with the other.

"Sit down," he said releasing her, and patting the bed beside him.

Skye sat.

"It's hard to get used to at first," he started to say, "all this life or death stuff, its intense, and it's hard to know when you can really relax. You have to know who you can trust."

She sighed, it always came back to that now. Every time she thought she had gotten closer to him, he would throw out her betrayal again to keep her at arm's length. Well, not tonight, she wouldn't let him. "You know you can trust me," She implored, "Right? Grant I need you, I need you to trust me. I need you to know that I would do anything I could to make sure you were okay."

She was on the brink of tears, but she would not let them fall. She was strong. She needed to know if they could get past this or not and earning Grant's pity was not what she wanted.

He looked at her for a long moment, not to keep her cruelly in suspense, but because he honestly didn't know if they would ever get to that kind of partnership, that kind of trust. Part of him wanted to tell her that, that trust was gone forever, that he was not a fool that would fall for a set of intense doe eyes, but the other part of him, the bigger part, that had protected so many over the years, was already aching to reach out for her.

"I trust that you will do what you think is right,' he decided, "and I have faith that you will make the right decision when the time comes."

"okay," she accepted his answer, because at least it was progress, at least he had faith.

"Okay," Ward continued, in a lighter tone, "now in the mean time, how do we get you to sleep?"

"I don't know," she yawned.

"Have you tried just laying down and closing your eyes?"

"Of course I have," she whined, "but as soon as I close my eyes, I start to worry about everyone. I see Jemma falling through the sky or you and Fitz standing outside that building with a hundred guys with guns about to blow you away, and I get all worried again."

"Do you want to stay here?" He ventured nervously.

"Here?"

"Yeah, here, you crash in my bunk, and when you start to feel worried, I will be right here to remind you that you called in the cavalry and saved us."

Skye didn't want to tell him that she had never slept with anyone. Not that she hadn't /slept/ with anyone, but that she had never let herself sleep with another person. It was too vulnerable.

"I guess, we could try that," she answered, figuring she would just slip out after he nodded off, like she had with others.

To say that Grant Ward was nervous was an understatement. This situation would probably get him court marshaled, but when he lay down with Skye in his arms, he couldn't bring himself to care. It felt right, and when he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head that felt right too.

He thought she was asleep, but then a moment later she twitched and her arm snaked around his waist. Her hand started to rub his back as if to convince herself that he was really there. His arms tightened around her and she pressed a kiss to his bare chest.

"We should stop," he whispered, as her hands continued to work their way up and down his back. But while he was saying the words, his hands were starting their own exploration.

She gave a stuttering breath in response.

"Tell me to stop," he all but begged, but she couldn't bring herself to. Instead she tipped her head and looked up at him with a look of pure trust, and he was lost. In the next moment their lips were meeting, not in a rush, but simply savoring everything that they had been trying not to want for too long.

Sometime later, Skye was woken by the sound of Ward snoring and she laughed when she realized that she had managed to both sleep with and /sleep with/ Grant Ward.

'What's funny?" he mumbled.

"Nothing," she promised, "go back to sleep, I am going to go back to my bunk.'

"Why?" he asked, trying not to sound nervous.

"Well, I don't really think AC would be cool with a new sleeping arrangement,' she replied.

"Is that the only reason?" he asked calmly.

"You can't be comfortable with me taking up all this space,"

"I just got the best sleep I've had in a long time, Skye," he answered honestly, "if you don't want to go, then stay and we will figure out the rest in the morning."

Skye sighed in relief, laying her head back on his chest and closing her eyes, "I just need you now," she whispered quietly.

"I know," he replied, "me too."

**A/N: Ok, several things: I am rating this T, but if someone thinks it needs to be bumped up let me know, I am a really bad judge. Not Beta on this so if there are errors I am very sorry, but it is now 230 am and I am officially cracked out. If you are interested in betaing this or future stories PM me. Lots of ideas a brewin'. Lastly please review because seriously people I love hearing what people think. Thanks and Happy reading!**


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